He is an equal mix of nuts and genius; something the world hasn’t seen in such a powerful, rich and influential position for a long time.
I was listening to The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett, which I am a big fan off, when I came across the episode where he is interviewing Walter Isaacson, who is an American journalist who has written biographies (Elon Musk, Steve Jobs …. ) by living with them, in Musk's’ case in a caravan a few hundred yards from his house in Texas, on and off for 2 years.
He shadowed him in meetings, at home, on the factory floor, at Tesla, SpaceX and at launches. He talked to his family, his friends, his ex-wives, and his children. Making this book in that way, has made it one of the most unusual, captivating and just amazing biographies to read.
Elon Musk is a well known name, almost everybody has an opinion on him, whether he’s rude, weird, interesting, a genius, a family man or a workaholic, or all of the above. But this book tells a different side to him, it tells us how traumatic, chaotic and heart-breaking his childhood was in South Africa, how he moved to Canada with a list of his mother’s relatives that he had never met, being told he could go to them. With only $4,000 in his pocket (which quickly went) he went to build himself a new life, away from Pretoria, and with big, bold, exciting dreams.
This doesn't just list his achievements, it showcases Musk’s personal flaws, his challenges and how they impact him, how he struggles with developing and keeping intimate relationships. Delving into the complex nature of his personality: his brilliance, his perfectionism, the suspected Asperger's/bipolar.
But it also highlights his incredible achievements, how he’s developed Tesla models, the hundred+ successful launches of SpaceX rockets, his role in founding companies including PayPal, The Boring Company (try to guess what that one is!?), Zip2, OpenAI and of course Tesla & SpaceX, as well as the relatively new one … Neuralink.
And of course, who could forget Twitter, now X, but you can find out all about that in the book!!
He talks about Mars, a lot. He talked about the dangers of AI, how it could eventually take over and be a dangerous thing, especially in the wrong hands. He talks about Self-Driving cars, a lot. But what do these things have in common? … They are all very relevant things in today's world. Many are making advances in these areas, but no one as much as Musk.
Many will say he can be delusional in his goals and predictions in his businesses. For example, since 2013, he has said that they will have fully self-driving cars in a year. But time after time he has proven that he can get things done quicker, accomplished quicker. SpaceX has become a prime example, they design and make all of the spaceships at a significantly quicker rate than anyone else.
Probably being fuelled by his younger self is his passion and obsession with living on Mars. He believes that people living on Mars, primarily, it is because it is crucial for the long-term survival of humanity by creating a “multiplanetary species”, acting as a backup plan in case of a catastrophic event on earth that could wipe out human life; he sees Mars colonization as a way to ensure the continuation of human life, beyond just earth.
Being married 3 times, to 2 different women, and having had children with 3 different women, means he has a complicated personal life, to say the least.
Heartbreakingly his first child, a little baby boy, Nevada Alexander, sadly died of sudden infant syndrome at just 10 weeks old, “My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat.” This left him in a deep, depressive state for a long time, just how much this loss impacted his personal life but also his work ethic, where he plunges into work as a coping mechanism.
I think though, that it takes a certain man, to have parted on good terms with his ex-wife's, and ex-girlfriends, he sees it as a parent partnership, even having more children after splitting up with Grimes.
One such one was Tallulah, she said that after deciding to divorce Elon, she made him a promise, “you’re my Mr. Rochester,” she said, referring to the brooding husband in Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre. “And if Thornfield hall burns down and you are blind, I’ll come to you and take care of you.” This just shows that there is a flip side to him, he isn’t just the restless, risky business man, he is a husband (or was her husband), albeit with the struggle he faces with connection and intimacy, he is a husband and that shows you a lot about someone, when even after divorcing you, she makes him that promise.
Little X, an adorable little boy, and definitely the apple of his fathers eyes. Born in May 2020, to Grimes. Regularly taking him to work with him, it recounts the time that he brought little X with him one night, on a building site, letting him play with pipes, wires and in an area lit by just flood lights, leaving him to do his own thing, just crawling about. This laid back parenting style runs parallel to his own childhood, where he was pretty much left to do his own thing, learning from his own mistakes.
Asperger's & Bipolar - Grimes said this “Asperger's makes you a very difficult person, he’s not very good at reading the average humans.” People should keep his psychological makeup in mind when judging him, she argues “if someone has depression or anxiety, we sympathise. But if they have Asperger’s we say he’s an ar******.”
Everybody goes through mood swings, but who has a “demon mood”? Likened to Jekyll & Hyde (very similar to his own father, Errol), this mood makes him work long hours, regularly sleeping under his desk and going round firing people who aren’t performing. “He goes into this dark, depressed mood and says some things, sometimes things that his father said to him, and then a few hours later, you ask him about it. And it’s like he almost has no memory.”
A harrowing, true account of a highly successful, unusual, tortured man, with a mind and ethos like no other. Truly someone to look up to (in some things), not just for his endurance, work ethic but how he survived a traumatic childhood with its effects later in life, but how he deals with his personality disorder, that others would have seen as a disadvantaged (he’s not perfect at dealing with it, he has those demon moods), but Elon … no … he saw it and uses it as an advantage, HIS advantage.
So, the thing everyone wants to know after reading a book review (especially a long one!) is would I recommend it. The answer is I absolutely would, this was an amazing and mind-opening read, because “whatever you think of Mr Musk, he is a man worth understanding - which makes this a book worth reading.”
I would recommend it to everyone, even those that don’t know anything about rockets, cars or business (because I certainly didn’t know anything!). It shows that there is a dark side to everyone, even celebrities - the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Here at Sage & Silhouettes, I have made it my mission to bring reading to people's attention, but not just for enjoyment, but for people to see the benefits of it on your mental well-being, as a form of self-care.
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So a big thank you from me, thank you for taking the time out to read my blog, to support me and for being one more person to help me build my little dream up.
Love, Serita xx